Escaping Reality
by Sanrio-chan
Summary: Are vampires being uncovered, or is this some sick joke? Bella and the Cullens have to escape reality before their fates are sealed. Complete. Slightly AU.
1. Preface: This Reality

This is my first time doing a multi-chapter _Twilight_ fic. It shouldn't be too long or anything like that. The OCs in the first few chapters are for transitioning purposes only. All pairings are canon.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Escaping Reality

Preface: This Reality

BPOV

* * *

I was always telling myself this was too good to be true. I never thought I could be right. I knew this life I had chosen was dangerous. I just didn't realize the true dangers until this point.

One person had just turned my world, and the Cullen's world, upside down. How could we escape this reality?


	2. 01 This World

This chapter features those OCs I was talking about. Don't get attached to them. They're only here for two or three chapters. Trust me on this.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 1: This World

MPOV

* * *

"Domenic, look at this!" I pointed excitedly at a book with a pretty flower on the cover. It almost sounded shallow of me, seeing as I hadn't even looked to see what the book was about. As I took it off the shelf Dom came over to see what I was so excited about. I wasn't sure of he really cared. We'd been together nearly 200 years and he still couldn't grasp my love for books. He never did understand the whole _Harry Potter _thing. And that wasn't just me.

He looked at the book in my hand. "What's it about?" He _almost_ seemed interested.

"Oh my God." I couldn't believe it.

"That good, huh?" Nope. He definitely didn't care.

"No. This is about the Cullens." I only said it in a vampire whisper. "And there's more than one book. Look, there's three and a fourth on the way."

His scarlet eyes got wide with fear. "We have to warn them. Buy all three. We need to see how accurate they are and so do they."

I was already skimming the pages. All the Cullens sounded and acted like themselves. But who was Bella?

"Okay," I answered after a minute. We walked up to the counter and purchased all three colossal novels.

"A big fan, I presume?" the cashier asked us.

"You could say that." What else was I supposed to say? Dom and I didn't usually interact with vampires, let alone humans.

"Well, have a good day."

"Will do," Dom told her. In a much quieter voice he asked me, "Where are the Cullens anyway?"

"We'll have to go see the Denali Coven. I'm sure the Cullens aren't in Forks. If they were still there they would've been found out long ago. I mean, there're almost four books about them and our vampire lives! How could they not know?" I was absolutely baffled beyond belief.

"I don't know." Domenic tucked a loose strange of my blonde hair behind my ear. "Let's find them first, then worry profusely."

* * *

Yay! Next chapter is the Denali Coven. The chapters will get a little longer once we get to the elusive Cullens, but not too long.


	3. 02 This Coven

I'm a dolt. I forgot to put the girl's name in there. You'll find out this chapter :P Sorry!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 2: This Coven

MPOV

* * *

After a few days of travel, Domenic and I were almost to Alaska. It would be a little bit longer before we reached the Denali Coven's home.

I finished reading the three books. As far as Dom and I could tell, they were accurate. Some things were frightening to think of as accurate. Things like a large pack of werewolves and Edward trying to get himself killed.

Although Dom and I weren't "vegetarians" we understood the Cullen's way of life. It almost made sense that they'd brought a human into their lives. I began to wonder if they had changed dear Bella. With how clumsy she appeared in the books, it amazed me there was a possibility she was alive. And with vampires nonetheless! Only Carlisle would have something as strange as this going on.

"Maia, love, we're almost there. I can smell them." Domenic's sense of smell far surpassed my own. But he didn't have photographic memory like me. It made my life easier because I couldn't keep a library with me; I had to keep in my head. Well, apart from the mysterious books in Dom's pack. Those were going to Carlisle.

As we approached the Denali Coven's home I saw Tanya. We'd only met once, but with vampire memory we'd never be strangers.

I spoke first. "We're sorry to drop in unannounced, but it's extremely important. We promise to not hunt in your area." I could see that she heard the urgency in my tone.

"That's agreeable. What's brings you and Domenic here?" By now Kate had come out of the house to join in.

"Hi, Maia and Dom!" Kate's unmistakable energy almost felt tangible.

"Kate, it's not polite to interrupt," Tanya chided.

"It's fine. She's just happy to see us." Domenic was always forgiving. I couldn't grasp his reasoning, but accepted it anyway.

"You were saying…" Tanya prompted me.

"We need to know where the Cullens are." Tanya raised an eyebrow at my request. "We fear that they might be exposed. Your Coven too." I must've sounded crazy.

"How?" Kate looked serious. A vampire's entire existence rested solely on blending in and the Denali Coven tried harder than most.

"Maia found some books. They're about you, the Cullens, and a girl named Bella. The Volturi are even in them. We've been exposed and apparently we have been for years." Dom's expression showed his concern. It was this concern that made me want to be his mate.

We all stared at each other for a long while.

"Let's see these books then." Tanya held her hands out while Domenic took the books out of his pack.

"Just a precaution, there's one more book. The final installment is due out soon," I warned.

Tanya and Kate were frantically flipping the pages. Kate gasped in shock when she found her coven mentioned.

"It's all true…" Tanya's eyes were still trained on the pages, but it was clear she didn't need to see anymore. "We keep in fairly close contact with the Cullens. This all happened."

"Where are they?" I pressed.

"New Hampshire at Dartmouth College."

"Thank you. We have to head out, but we need the books. They need to see them." Dom almost sounded impatient. Our suspicions were very well confirmed. There was no denying it.

Tanya handed Dom the books and we took off. We didn't have a car or money for plane tickets. We'd just have to cut through Canada. It would be a few days and hopefully we'd make it in time. There was a bit of a time crunch: August 2nd at 12:01 am. We had to get out of this mess by then. If humans found out vampires existed, then they'd start thinking there were witches and wizards on brooms.

* * *

That's three chapters in one day. You can't have anymore today!!


	4. 03 This Family

Time for things to get interesting :) I hope you enjoy. From here on out things will be in Bella's POV, unless I change my mind. I'll remind you every chapter anyway, lol.

Standard disclaimers apply. But one day I shall own something that makes lots of money and people will be writing "Standard disclaimers apply" for something I wrote. Not really. Just fantacising.

* * *

Chapter 3: This Family

BPOV

* * *

Today was the fourth anniversary of me becoming one of them; a vampire. Carlisle was pleasantly surprised at how well I adapted to being around humans, so after my second year of my new life I started Dartmouth College with my new family.

I was going into my third year of college. I decided to go for a degree in Literature. Edward thought it suited me and Jasper enjoyed the in depth discussions we had about books. He wasn't about to complain.

We wanted to go on a tour of Europe for summer break, but Alice had a vision and it was decided that we needed to stay in New Hampshire. In her vision she saw visitors coming to see us and it had to do with something vastly important. She just didn't know what. Better safe than sorry. At least that's what Alice told us.

Today was that day.

Two figures approached our house at vampire speed. Once I got a good look I got the feeling that they were rather panicked. They were definitely the _important_ people Alice saw coming. I'd never seen them before, but I knew that they weren't _my_ kind of vampire. I saw their scarlet eyes against the pallor of their faces.

"Maia, Domenic, what brings you here? Maybe a little shopping?" Alice asked hopefully. I saw Edward shake his head at her, almost as if something was wrong. Was there something wrong?

The dark haired vampire spoke first. "Sorry to come in a hurry like this."

"Yes, it's very pressing." The blonde girl was pretty, especially for a vampire, but not as beautiful as Rosalie. Her long hair whipped around her delicate face. She looked to me. "Oh, you must be Bella. We haven't met. I'm Maia and this is my mate Domenic."

I nodded my head at her. I just wanted to know what this "pressing matter" was. Becoming a vampire hadn't granted me any more patience than being a human ever had.

What drove me even more insane was that Edward wasn't telling Alice and me their thoughts. They couldn't have reason to block him. That, or the pressing matter was so pressing that their thoughts were all scattered about and he couldn't tell what was going on. I'd have to ask later.

Suddenly Domenic pulled out a stack of three novels, all a fair bit thick.

"What are those about?" I asked. They couldn't have come all this way to give us some books, no matter how much my family enjoyed them. If they were, they were most definitely crazy.

Domenic looked at me with anxiety. "They're about you. In your point of view, nonetheless. They even have the Denali Coven, the Volturi, the _werewolves_, everything." He handed the books to Alice.

She immediately started slipping through the pages. After what seemed like forever she stopped turning the pages. "This is word for word what we've said and done when we were in Forks. I can't believe it. How did we not know about these?" Alice looked to Edward.

"Alice, we moved right before these books started coming out. No one will find us. Almost all our graduating class in Forks moved out." He was rationalizing. That, and editing.

"Edward, this third one mentions Dartmouth. And next month a fourth book is coming out. It has the wedding in it. At least it should. It'll point to all the places we've been. We'll be found out."

"Then we'll move." It wasn't going to be debated.

"That might work for us, but what about the Denali Coven? Or the Volturi? We'd have to change our names, dye our hair, split up! We can't do that! We're a _family_!"

With Alice's outburst came the rest of our family from the quietness of the indoors. None of them looked especially happy.

"Alice dear, why would we be changing our names?" Esme's lips went down slightly at the corners.

Maia stepped up. "Esme, I'm so sorry we've disturbed your family this way. It's just…these books. They've exploited your family and vampires. Domenic and I came to warn you." Her eyes were downcast. She really must have felt bad for telling us this.

"How can this be? We've hidden ourselves so well over the years." Carlisle looked a little angry. After centuries of hiding himself he'd been found out anyway. And probably by a bunch of teenage girls and their mothers. Even worse! They had not only read about vampires. They had read about my relationship with Edward! If I could've blushed I would've been a new shade of red. I didn't even want to think of how many people had read about it. Then I'd have that heart attack Edward always talked about having. All this time Edward didn't want to share me with anyone else and I was being shared with the world!

I took a quick glance at his marble face. It was very apparent that he'd come to the same realization as myself.

"We don't know, but we're amazed you didn't know about this. These books are supposed to be more popular than _Harry Potter_." Domenic put into words what I would've thought about if my thoughts weren't filled with immense embarrassment.

"We'll have to discuss this matter as a family," Carlisle told us. His eyes were trained on Edward.

"We'll leave you alone to that. Maybe we'll see you again some time." Maia's eyes portrayed her hope prominently as she and Domenic left us to ponder our options.

"Everyone, inside," Carlisle instructed.

_Family meeting time...

* * *

_Constructive criticism is welcome If things seem a little off, I apologize, but please, oh please, point it out to me.


	5. 04 This Meeting

So…I have quite a few chapters written out. Mind you, they're usually 500-1100 words long. I'm not all that wordy. Only kind of.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 4: This Meeting

BPOV

* * *

"We are gathered at this table for a family meeting," Carlisle announced. We already knew that; it was just meant to make it more formal given the situation we were recently placed in. "We are to discuss how we are going to handle this predicament. Any ideas?"

I spoke without thinking. "We could go see the Volturi," I offered.

Alice's eyes glazed over for a minute as she saw what would happen if we went to go to Italy. Edward stared at her as he too took in the vision. "No. They'll kill the author and anyone who seems like a threat."

"Alice is right. We can't let anyone get hurt, especially over books," Edward said. He gently squeezed my hand as he gave me a reassuring look.

"How about a question? Why didn't Alice see this whole thing? And why didn't Edward ever hear any thoughts about it?" Rosalie was desperate for answers to questions we could only have theories about.

"I can't hear everyone, Rosalie," Edward told her impatiently.

"And I can't see everything," Alice reminded her. Usually it was Edward that needed reminding on that one.

"Well, I think I've got an idea to how we can approach this matter," Carlisle announced. Once everyone stopped talking and started listening he went on. "These are books. We should read them cover to cover before we go any farther. Does that sound fair?"

We all looked at each other skeptically. Emmett didn't look too thrilled about reading three whole books. Jasper, on the other hand, seemed fairly interested with the idea. We all slowly nodded our heads in agreement.

"The quickest way to read them is to read them out loud to everyone as fast as we can." Carlisle turned to Alice. "Alice, you're the quickest. Will you do the honours?"

"Of course! I _was_ the one to read you all the last Harry Potter book," she chirped. Only Alice…

She picked up _Twilight_ and began. This was going to be a very long and _slightly_ embarrassing family meeting.

She took a deep breath and began. "_I'd never given much thought to how I would die…_" I wanted to ignore her words the best I could, but I knew I shouldn't.

Everything was going somewhat smoothly until we got to _New _Moon. Edward instantly tensed up. He stopped breathing at the part when he left me and didn't start again until after he "reappeared" in the book. It was a good thing I couldn't cry.

The strangest part was the end of _Eclipse_. It was in Jacob's point of view. "_I pushed my legs faster, letting Jacob Black disappear behind me._" Still no one had seen Jacob.

I had no idea how long we listened to Alice speed read, bit it felt like _years_. All the years of my life in Forks were neatly laid out in book format for me to look at whenever I wished. Not many people had that "privilege" if that's what you would really call it.

Alice closed _Eclipse_ with a question. "With all of this, how is it that nobody has come up to any of us and asked about this? I know I would do that."

What a question! I surely didn't have an answer. Apparently no one else did either. We all remained silent, pondering Alice's question. I even stopped breathing.

After a bit, Edward noticed my lack of breath intake. "Breathe, Bella," he whispered into my ear. I took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Look! Stephenie Meyer has a website!" Alice nearly shouted. She stood up and made a mad dash upstairs to retrieve her laptop. She quickly flipped it open and started typing frantically. After a few clicks she spoke to us with her super Alice vampire speed. "She had a dream about Bella and Edward in a meadow. That's what inspired her. And there's a countdown for _Breaking Dawn_ down to the millisecond! Wow. And the books are in tons of languages. Impressive." She rambled a little more before I came to a slight realization about what was going on.

We were so blind! Of course that's what made sense! But how to word it…

Edward noticed that I had entered a trance of intense thought and gently nudged me to snap me back to reality.

"Bella, what are you think right now?" His topaz eyes reflected my own strained eyes back at me.

That's when it really hit me. "Wait! That's it!" I exclaimed.

"What's it?" Edward and everyone else looked more confused than before Alice had posed her question.

"I have a theory," I started.

* * *

Ooh! A theory she says? We'll see about that!


	6. 05 This Theory

This one isn't all that long. Like I said, I'm not wordy. I drive my English teachers crazy .

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 5: This Theory

BPOV

* * *

Everyone stared at me, sitting still as statues. Seeing them all like that reminded me once again that I thought it was weird that they did that. I almost expected a bird to perch on their head and build a nest on their shoulders.

Alice interrupted my thinking. "Well, spit it out!" she demanded.

"Alice, we're _in_ the books," I stated.

"We already knew that!" She flailed her arms in the air like she was waving down a taxi.

"No, that's not what I meant. We're just part of Mrs. Meyer's imagination put on paper, just like Harry Potter is in Ms. Rowling's imagination. Don't you get it?" I didn't have any other way of explaining it. Me and my freaky brain.

"Nope, no idea Squirt." Emmett shrugged and looked confused while everyone else stared at me trying to understand what I meant.

Jasper looked at me and suddenly, almost as if a light bulb had turned on over his head, he said, "I get it. But it's quite a paradox."

"Jasper," Alice began, "I still don't get it."

"Listen, if all of you don't tense down, I won't be able to tell you. You're killing me." Everyone started thinking of happier things to loosen up the mood. They went back to their statuesque state to listen to Jasper. "What Bella means in that everything we did that appears in those books we only did because the author _wrote_ it. It also explains why the books took a while to appear in our 'world'."

"And the reason we haven't been approached is because no one's quite silly enough to believe some fictional books." Alice beamed at her husband. At least _they_ understood.

"Then how did the books even get here?" Rosalie asked.

"A Freudian slip of the pen," Jasper said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?" I could see that Emmett was getting close to understanding the situation, but he wasn't quite there yet. I don't even think he knew what a Freudian slip was.

"Well, first off, we don't know what's in _Breaking Dawn_. Secondly, it could be in an outtake or an unpublished extra. But either way, she wrote that the books are in this world, or this reality. Does everyone follow me?" Jasper scanned his eyes over all of us. This family. Our family.

Everyone slightly nodded their head; even Emmett finally understood.

"So what now?" I turned to see Rosalie leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed.

"We escape this 'reality'," Carlisle answered firmly. "Before someone not-so-silly _does_ approach us."

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Edward, who had remained silent for nearly the entire time had finally spoke up.

We all looked to Jasper for an answer. He at least appeared to understand all of this better than the rest of us. "Well…we should try to get out before this next book comes out. We'll be cutting it close, but I think I've got a fairly decent idea. It involved August second at midnight. Just one minute after that will be too late."

Whatever Jasper was planning, we would have to go along with. We didn't have any other options. Another day as a young vampire come and gone again.


	7. 06 This Plan

I like reviews. That's my only note for today :)

Standard disclaimers apply. Smile!

* * *

Chapter 6: This Plan

BPOV

* * *

Midnight…hm.

"Wait, why at exactly midnight?" Rosalie was just teeming with questions about our rendezvous from this reality.

"Do you remember the _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ midnight release from last year?" Alice questioned Rosalie.

"Yeah. How could I not? Everyone was all dressed up and they got there hours beforehand. What does that have to do with this?" I was starting to understand what Alice was getting at. But only a little bit.

"That's what the _Breaking Dawn_ release is going to look like."

"So that means…"

I suddenly understood, so I took over for Alice. "It's going to be so confusing because of the release that we can get out of here. It comes out at 12:01 am. Midnight is when everything will be filled with the most pandemonium."

"We can slip through the cracks and slip out," Jasper finished.

I was really catching onto things lately. But wait…

"If _we_ leave, what about the Denali Coven? Will they come too?" It wasn't just them I wondered about. There was Maia and Domenic. And the Volturi. _And_ all the other vampires.

Silence. Again. It lasted for an immeasurable amount of time. Which, for a vampire, can be a very long time.

It was Esme's turn to say something. Well, ask something. "Carlisle, do you have any ideas?" She stared at him with her loving eyes and then something must have clicked for Carlisle.

"I think we can escape from here and still have everything be intact. But there's also a chance we could end up some place completely different," said Carlisle.

"I don't understand," I admitted. I had been following so well until that point. Then again, I hadn't given much thought as to _where_ we'd escape to. I just knew it was possible to escape.

"When we leave it'll almost be like we disappeared out of thin air. But I'm not quite sure where we'll go. We could end up in a different universe altogether, or end up in nearly the same location only without the books. I haven't figured that out yet."

"Well, we at least need a good strategy for getting out," Jasper stated. All of his military expertise was going to come in handy again. At least this time it wasn't because of any newborn vampire armies. I cringed slightly at the thought. "We'll have to go to a release party, but we have to do our best to not be noticed. At exactly midnight we need to all be in physical contact with each other, whether it be holding hands or touching someone's neck, it doesn't matter. Carlisle will get us to wherever he ends up taking us. Bella, do you remember that book we read for philosophy class? _Sophie's World_?"

That was when everything made a loud clicking sound in my head. "Yes. I do remember."

Jasper continued, "Sophie and Alberto escape from the prison that is the book they're in by being near all of the chaos of the garden party. They managed to disappear without anyone noticing. That's what we have to do."

I thought about what I had just heard. If we ended up in an alternate universe, would anyone talk to us? Would it be terribly different or almost the same?

Then I realized that it didn't matter where we ended up. All that really mattered was that I would be with Edward and our family. Nothing in the world, or any universe for that matter, meant anything except the vampires in this room. And I would do anything to protect them.

Vampire feelings really are hard to express.

* * *

Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know via REVIEW!! **Okay, I have some 'splaining to do. I have slightly re-written some of this so that it makes more sense. But keep in the mind that this story involves a lot of complex things like literal alternate universes. The point of escaping while there's a lot going on is because the author isn't paying attention. It becomes a 'Freudian slip" which means it's what you meant to say/write but you didn't acutally want to say it. Secretly, Stephenie Meyer wanted the Cullens to meet the world. I hope that clears things up a bit.**


	8. 07 This Mind

Have fun with it. Only a couple chapters left :)

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 7: This Mind

BPOV

* * *

A few weeks had passed. There were only a few more days until _Breaking Dawn_ was planning to storm into America's female population. Just a few more days until my family would be skipping out on this world, possibly leaving everything we had ever known behind us. We were planning on using something similar apparition to get out of here. Disappearing into thin air, leaving no traces about our existence.

I tried to not dwell on things too much. There was no need to worry.

I found myself spending more and more time with Edward, if that was even possible. It didn't matter what we did together, as long as it was together. I was acting like I'd never see him again, which was just silly. We were just leaving this reality, nothing more.

At least that's what I kept telling myself.

My freaky brain was being freaky again. I didn't know what to do about it. I was doing everything that I could to not alert Edward to my worries. If he knew I was worrying he'd just tell me to stop after asking why I was even bothering to worry about anything to begin with. I was driving myself insane.

I knew that my emotions were probably driving Jasper insane, too. I wouldn't blame him if he exploded at me. Of course, Edward wouldn't appreciate that very much. So to try to keep myself somewhat sane, I kept picturing what Edward would do to Jasper if I didn't stop being silly. For the most part it worked.

I made sure to keep myself busy. I kept reading Jane Austen to keep my mind off the "situation." But my mind always drifted off anyway. I imagined going to a world like the one Jane Austen wrote about. Or maybe we'd end up somewhere like in all of those sci-fi movies.

Jasper and Carlisle still hadn't figured out where we'd be "going" in a few days. They were still debating how this whole thing worked. They were at exactly the same point they had started with weeks ago at the family meeting. It made me anxious. We were supposed to be escaping in just a few days and it seemed like we didn't know what we were doing.

Just as that thought crept across my mind for the thirty-seventh time, Carlisle came out of his study with Jasper. They looked a little aggravated, yet slightly accomplished.

Edward, who's lap I was sitting on, looked up from the book he was reading. The look on his face let me know that Carlisle and Jasper were blocking him. I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"We've come to the conclusion that we can't choose where we'll end up," Carlisle announced. He looked absolutely exasperated. If he wasn't a vampire he'd pass out on the floor. His eyes were coal black. All this time he'd been trying to figure things out, he had neglected to go hunting. "It'll be a surprise when we get there. For now, I'm going hunting." He left the room and I heard the front door shut behind him.

Knowing that we wouldn't know where we were going brought me back to my original thoughts of being anxious.

"Bella, why are you feeling so anxious?" Jasper came over to Edward and me.

"It's silly." I didn't want to go into detail and then explain that I saw Edward beating Jasper up over my insanity.

"Bella." Edward stared into my eyes, trying to dazzle the answer out of me.

I sighed in defeat. "I just wanted to know where we were going. But it doesn't matter where we go. I'm worrying about nothing." I felt slightly relieved. I didn't know if it was because I was coming clean or if Jasper was making me feel that way.

"Bella, you have nothing to worry about," Edward told me.

"I know. I just worry about things anyway."

"Silly Bella!" Alice came dancing over to join us on the couch. "Things will be fine. I can't tell you where we're going, but there's honestly nothing to worry about." With her grinning like that I had no choice but to agree with her.

"I trust you, Alice. Besides, I'd never bet against you."

"Of course, silly! Who would?"

"Emmett!" we all answered.

I got the feeling that that would never change, no matter where we went.

* * *

Review, review :) **I had a slight fix up at the beginning. The apparation thing was confusing people. Sorry!**


	9. 08 This Party

How's it going? Anyway, I'm taking a break from homework to write this. Yay!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 8: This Party

BPOV

* * *

The last few days were a blur. It was like my mind was on fast forward and I just couldn't stop it. There was no stop or pause button. I can't even explain why time decided to elude me, just like a snitch eludes the seeker. But suddenly, as if I had been pulled from some strange dream, I realized I was at the _Breaking Dawn_ release party. In just an hour I wouldn't be anywhere near this place. I didn't even know where I was going.

But I did know with whom I was going with.

Somehow, through some strange impossibility, we managed to blend in with the "Twilighters." Just as I had suspected (and Alice saw) the place was filled with teenage girls, their mothers, and the random boyfriend or husband. But mostly teenage girls.

Edward was trying his best to block them, but I could tell it wasn't going so well. Not that their thoughts centered on us. They were centered on the Bella and Edward in the book they were impatiently waiting to read.

I didn't need Edward's power to know what they were thinking. More like imagining. Something along the line of me and Edward…together. Some probably harboured thoughts of me and Jake being together. Most of the humans wore "Team Edward" shirts, but a select few had "Team Jacob" on their shirts. Edward didn't look particularly happy with those shirts.

Edward held my hand as we weaved our way through the crowd. The Barnes & Noble parking lot was packed, but we still managed to keep track of everyone.

We were headed towards Alice and Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett were with Esme and Carlisle on the other side of the lot. In just half an hour we were going to meet as far away from the line as humanly possible, while still being in Jasper's recommended distance.

It was Carlisle's idea, actually, but Jasper refined it. We didn't want anyone to notice us disappearing, but we still had to be close enough for the pandemonium to work to our advantage. If we were too far away the author could possibly notice is trying to leave. If we stayed close she could focus more on the people _surrounding_ us rather than us.

There were humans dressed up like various members of my family, but mostly me mixed in with a few Edwards. None of them really looked like any of us, but Rose probably found it somewhat flattering. There were a few girls dressed up like her and they did a fairly good job considering they were just humans.

It was five minutes until midnight so we all headed to the "designated" spot and held hands while we waited for midnight. We were all putting absolute trust in Carlisle. Hopefully we'd vanish and not be missed.

This book world was really crazy.

* * *

I know you're reading this...and I know who's not leaving me lovely reviews. I appreciate the favourites a lot, though :) But reviews let me know how I can improve, what's working, and what everyone thinks in general. Thanks again for reading. This story has a good amount of hits! **And thank you to the reviewers who pointed out the more confusing parts. I've been working on cleaning that up, I promise!**


	10. 09 This Escape and Epilogue This Love

Thanks for all the favourites! It's super appreciated :)

Standard disclaimers apply all the way to the end.

* * *

Chapter 9: This Escape

BPOV

* * *

It was almost the beginning of the end.

Five more seconds and we would be gone.

Was this really going to work? We didn't have any physical proof lying around to tell us if it would.

This wasn't like a portkey. At least with those you knew (for the most part) where you were going. Carlisle was like a mysterious portkey. The kind that took you some place you've never been to, a place where you didn't know where you were.

In the midst of all my thoughts, I felt like I was being slightly compressed or squeezed. It wasn't entirely uncomfortable. Only marginally so.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. I didn't realize that I had closed my eyes. When I opened them I saw that I was still holding Edward and Alice's hands with some sort of death grip. I looked around to make sure all of my family was with me. Then I finally took in my surroundings.

It was probably about noon, but it was hard to tell with all of the cloud coverage. We definitely weren't at a bookstore anymore, either. In fact, it looked strangely like Forks.

I loosened my hold on Edward and Alice's hands so I could turn around.

There it was. The Cullen's large, white house, no different from the last time I'd seen it.

I turned back toward my family, wearing a slightly confused face. We couldn't possibly stay in Forks. Charlie was here and as far as he was concerned I had died in a car wreck in Europe during a summer excursion with my new family. Alice had a little too much fun fabricating the evidence, but it wouldn't do anyone any good to have tried to stop her. Let the little pixie vampire have her fun. What ever made my sister happy made me happy too.

"Bella," Edward said. I snapped out of my trance. I may not be able to sleep and have dreams, but I was very good at daydreaming and tuning people, or vampires, out.

"Yes?" I said somewhat dumbly.

"What are you thinking?" I was still the only person he needed to ask. At the moment he knew what everyone was thinking, except one, who was off in dreamland.

"We can't stay here. Charlie's here. Don't you think it'd be a little weird to see your supposedly dead daughter walking around?"

"Uh, Bella…Charlie's not here." I looked at Alice, not believing her.

"Then where is he?" Why would Charlie ever leave Forks? None of this was making any sense.

"In this would Charlie never existed."

I let that sink in for a moment. I felt a little stupid, to be quite frank. I should've remembered the whole "we're in a different reality now" thing. Then I started to wonder…

"What about Renee?"

"Also a no."

"Is there anyone here we _do_ know?" It wouldn't entirely matter, but I knew it was always good to know people. We could meet new people. Maybe we would simply start again.

"The only 'people' we know are the vampires. They _should_ all be here at any rate, even the ones we've never met." Carlisle's explanation would need a little elaboration, but I knew what he meant. Any humans we'd ever known or heard of had never existed, at least not here. Even George Washington would be absent from the history books. But as long as there weren't any books chronicling my life, I would be happy with where we were.

"I understand, but how is it that all the vampires are here?"

"Vampires are immortal, for the most part, so they'll be in just about any reality. On top of that they're mythical beings, which easily constitutes that they can be anywhere they want. Of course, that means that the werewolves are still around as well. At least that's the theory I have." I'd take that explanation. It was the best I was going to get anyway.

"Are we going to stay here then?"

"Probably not at this time. Unless you really want to. But I thought that you would like it if you got to finish your college education first before we make any other plans." I was pretty sure I could live with that too. I looked to Edward before nodding my head. Then a new onslaught of questions started forming in my head.

"If no one ever existed in this place from the place we were at, does that mean everything has different names?" It seemed like a legitimate, yet somewhat confusing question to me.

"That's right, Bella! Forks isn't Forks. It's actually Pendaser. And this isn't Washington. It's Bemflik. But all the state lines are the same and the cities and populations are the same. And, before you ask, everyone speaks English, but it's called Majfties. In time we're learn the names of everything."

"How do you know what everything's called?" How could Alice know if I didn't know? She'd never been here before.

"Edward and I talked about it while your eyes were squeezed shut and were in a state of dreamland," Alice proudly told me. If course Alice would know.

"Well, let's start life then!" Emmett boomed.

* * *

Epilogue: This Love

* * *

Life did start. Not the kind of life with beating hearts and babies. The kind of life that meant happiness and rising to your potential. The kind of life where you love as much as you can. The life that goes on for all eternity. Never stopping. Not ever.

* * *

I'm all done. Woohoo! Anyway, I was wondering if anyone noticed my rather blatant reference to _Harry Potter_ every chapter, excluding the Preface? I wasn't trying to hide it. I put it out there. But if you got this far and didn't notice then…DONDAKE!! (Japanese for Surprise). Gotcha!

**And if you've read this far and haven't left a review, now's the time. Just hit that little button there on the left. I promise it won't hit back :)**

**I hope this all makes more sense now. I promise I did my best!**


End file.
